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Newbie question about Xamarin iOS development

I'm completely new to Xamarin and phone APP development. I was trying Xamarin on Windows with Visual Studio 2019 for iOS development. When I create a project like this:

I have to use Xaml to development my application.

If I created my project using this template:

I got a storyboard for my App's UI.

Both of the project are for iOS development. My question is, in the first type of project, can I use a storyboard for the UI design? Or I have to use Xaml? In the second type of project, can I use Xaml?

This may be a basic question, but I can't find any explanation.
Thanks!

Best Answer

The first of those is for Xamarin.Forms, which allows an app to be developed that targets all of Android, iOS and UWP.

The second is for Xamarin.iOS, which only allows apps to target iOS.

Both allow you to develop in C# (or presumably F# if you really wanted to).

Because Xamarin.Forms operates cross-platform, it uses its own UI definition mechanism, as it has to be supported by all target platforms, not just iOS. As a result it uses XAML (although you can define the UI in C# alone if you want to).

Because Xamarin.iOS only targets iOS, it uses the native UI definition mechanism, hence using storyboards (about which I have to admit knowing very little).

Answers

The first of those is for Xamarin.Forms, which allows an app to be developed that targets all of Android, iOS and UWP.

The second is for Xamarin.iOS, which only allows apps to target iOS.

Both allow you to develop in C# (or presumably F# if you really wanted to).

Because Xamarin.Forms operates cross-platform, it uses its own UI definition mechanism, as it has to be supported by all target platforms, not just iOS. As a result it uses XAML (although you can define the UI in C# alone if you want to).

Because Xamarin.iOS only targets iOS, it uses the native UI definition mechanism, hence using storyboards (about which I have to admit knowing very little).

The first of those is for Xamarin.Forms, which allows an app to be developed that targets all of Android, iOS and UWP.

The second is for Xamarin.iOS, which only allows apps to target iOS.

Both allow you to develop in C# (or presumably F# if you really wanted to).

Because Xamarin.Forms operates cross-platform, it uses its own UI definition mechanism, as it has to be supported by all target platforms, not just iOS. As a result it uses XAML (although you can define the UI in C# alone if you want to).

Because Xamarin.iOS only targets iOS, it uses the native UI definition mechanism, hence using storyboards (about which I have to admit knowing very little).